Plenty of good park draft picks on City Council's list
It's time for Mayor Nutter to walk the talk where it comes to his pledge to make Fairmount Park "one of the best."
UPDATE: The envelope, please: Mayor announces panel
It's time for Mayor Nutter to walk the talk by a July 1 deadline when it comes to his pledge to make Fairmount Park "one of the best" - by picking top-flight members for the new parks and recreation commission. These are the folks who - in much the same way as the now-abolished 142-year-old Fairmount Park Commission - will be charged with making sure the 9,200-acre park is around for the next 142 years.
City Council just the other week sent Nutter a list of 25 candidates from which the mayor will pick nine. Council fielded more than 200 inquiries from would-be park commissions - a turnout that, in and of itself, was quite a statement of faith and dedication to the park system.
Few of the candidates on the list are household names. But there are plenty of people with ample experience in parks and recreation, so the mayor should be able to assemble a stellar commission. It's important, given the periodic attempts to develop parts of the park. Most of all, the commissioners need to be active and show some spunk As the Inquirer editorialized in late May, "to be effective the commission should convene regularly and take full advantage of its bully pulpit."